Music-leaf turner.



B. F. SOUTHER.

MUSIC LEAF TURNER.

APPLICATION FILED JAN 14,.1910.

PatentedJan. 16, 1912.

3 SHEETS-451113131 1.

B. F. SOUTHER.

MUSIC LEAF TURNER.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 14, 1910.

1,01 5,092. Patented Jan. 16, 1912.

1? 5 3SHEETS-SHEET 2.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH c0.. WASHlNGTO-N, n. c,

B. P. SOUTHBR.

MUSIC LEAF TURNER.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 14, 1910v 1,015,092, Patented Jan.16, 1912.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

BENJAMIN F. SOUTHER, OF BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA.

MUSIC-LEAF TURNER.

Application filed. January 14, 1910.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. SoU'rHER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Berkeley, in the county of Alameda and State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Music-LeafTurners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in music leaf turners and has forits object the provision of a device of that kind provided with aplurality of leaf holders and a selector arm adapted to turn said leafholders in opposite directions so that when the music of a sheet held byone of the holders is turned out of view and it becomes necessary torepeat what has already been played the holder may be returned in arapid and expeditious manner.

Another object is the provision of an improved form of leaf holder soconstructed that when the device is used in the open air the danger ofthe leaf becoming disengaged from the holder by gusts of wind, will bepositively prevented.

A further object is the provision of an improved form of holder soconstructed that the leaf holding frames when mounted thereon will havetheir opposite ends in the same plane.

Vith these and other objects in view, which will more fully hereinafterappear, the present invention consists in certain novel details ofconstruction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described,illustrated in the accompanying drawings and more particularly pointedout in the appended claims; it being understood that various changes inthe form, proportion, size, and minor details of the device may be made,within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from thespirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the specification:-Figure 1 is a front elevation of the device. Fig. 2 is a sideelevation thereof showing the position of one of the leaf holders indotted lines and in the act of being turned to one side of the support.Fig. 3 is a sectional plan view on the line 33 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is anenlarged front elevation of the upper end portion of the device showingthe position of the selec- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 16, 1912.

Serial No. 538,092.

tor arm when turning the leaf holders in one direction. Fig. 5 is adetail side elevation of the lower portion of one of the leaf holdersand showing the construction of the dogs by means of which the leafholder is turned in opposite directions and also showing the selectorarm after having passed one of said dogs. Fig. 6 is a view similar toFig 5 but showing the position of the selector arm after it has passedthe dog opposite to that shown in Fig. 5 and moving into position toturn the leaf holder in a direction opposite to that which it will turnin Fig. 5." Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail of a portion of the dog arm forturning the frames from left to right. Fig. 8 is arear elevation of theupper portion of the device and showing the stops which limit themovements of the music holders. Fig. 9 is a detail perspective of one ofthe leaf holders.

Similar numerals of reference are e/Inployed to designate correspondingparts throughout.

The device about to be described is shown applied to a music stand ofthe tripod type. It must be understood however that I am not to belimited to this specific application, since it will be understood, fromwhat will appear later, how the device might be applied directly to amusical instrument such as a piano and operated, without departing fromthe spirit of the invention. I

As shown in Fig. 1 the support includes a standard designated by thenumeral 5 and inclined outwardly from the lower end of the said standardare a plurality of legs 6 which form a support for the standard andprevent the latter from toppling. The upper end of the standard isbifurcated the prongs of said bifurcation being parallel, whereby whatwill subsequently be termed pintles 7 and 8 are provided and thefunction of which will appear later. The lower ends of the pintles aresomewhat enlarged as shown at 9 and form supports for the leaf holders.Extending laterally from the upper ends of the pintles 7 and 8 are apair of arms 10 and 11, best shown in Fig. 8, and which serve to limitthe outward movement of the leaf holders.

In the present construction four leaf holders are employed two of whichare mounted on each of the pintles 7 and 8. With this construction it isevident that the weight on each pintle will be reduced and the danger ofbending practically obviated.

By reference now to Figs. 1, 4 and 9 it will be seen that each of theleaf holders conforms to the shape of a rectangular frame the oppositesides of which are designated by the numerals 12 and 13 and the upperand lower ends of which are designated by the numerals 14 and 15.Adjacent the opposite ends of one of the longitudinal sides pintle lugs16 and 17 are provided which receive one of the pintles.

The leaf holders are of peculiar construction and by reference to Fig. 9it will be seen that the longitudinal side 13 or that opposite to theside 12 carrying the lugs 16 and 17 is bifurcated in the direction ofits length, whereby clamping surfaces 18 and 19 are provided so also isthe upper end 15 pivoted for the major portion of its length, wherebyclamping surfaces 20 and 21 are provided which form continuations of theclamping surfaces 18 and 19. Vhen it is understood that the leaf holdersare of resilient metal, it will be evident that these clamping surfacesmay be sprung apart as shown in Fig. 9, sufficiently far to permit amusic leaf to be inserted therebetween. By referring again to Fig. 9 itwill be seen that pivoted to the medial portion of the upper end 15 ofeach of the leaf holders is a latch 22. This member comprises a shankportion one end portion of which is provided with a right angularextension 23 one side of which is parallel with and spaced from theshank 22 sufficiently far to bear on the clamping surface 21 when thelatter bears on the clamping surface 20, whereby through the cooperationof the shank 22 the said clamping surfaces may be held bearing one uponthe other so as to secure the sheet interposed therebetween.

By reference now to Figs. 1 to 6 inclusive it will be seen thatdepending from the medial portion of the lower end of each of the musicholders, and located 011 the opposite faces of said lower end are a pairof brackets 24 and 25. The bracket 25, or that arranged on the outerface of the lower end of the holder when the latter is moved to theright is preferably formed of a single piece of steel wire or the likebent into substantially a U-shape and having portions adjacent theterminals of its opposite limbs bent inwardly and fixedly secured to thesaid lower end of the holder. The bracket 24 or that arranged on theopposite face of the lower end of the holder is somewhat different instructure than the bracket 25 and comprises an outwardly and downwardlyextending arm having adjacent its lower end an inwardly extendingchamber 26, best shown in Fig. 7. The lower end portion. of

the arm 24 is provided with a rabbet 27 best shown in Fig. 4, saidrabbeted portion being provided with a transverse opening NW A dog isdesignated by the numeral 28 and corresponds in thickness to that of thebracket 24 and adjacent to one end is rabbeted and provided with atransverse opening adapted to aline with the opening at the ,lower endof the arm 24, these openings receiving a pivot pin 29 by means of whichthe lug and arm are pivotally united and that portion of the dog 28extending upwardly from its pivot is slightly offset and designed tobear on the outer side of the arm 24 and overlie the chamber 26, asshown at 30. Located in the chamber 26 is a helical. retractile spring31, one terminal of which is fixedly secured to the inner end of thechamber and its opposite end to the end portion of the extension 30. Byprovision of the extension 30 it will be evident that outward movementof the lug beyond the plane of the arm 24 will be prevented, movementhowever in the opposite direction will be permitted and the spring 31will return the lug to the plane of the arm 24 when the force whichmovesit is removed.

Mounted on the bracket 25 is a dog 32. This member is preferably formedof a single piece of sheet metal oblong in contour and provided adjacentto its opposite sides with ears 33 which receive the horizontal portionof the bracket 25. The dog 32 is of such length that when positioned onthe bracket 25 its lower end will be in a plane with the lower end ofthe dog 28 while its upper end will bear on the outer face of the lowerend of the leaf holder, when the latter is moved to the right as shownin Fig. 1. With this construction it will be evident that the movementof the dog 32 is limited in one direction but may be moved inwardly orin a direction opposite to the movement of the dog 28.

What will subsequently be termed a selector arm is designated by thenumeral 34. This member comprises a shank portion 36 one end of whichterminates in a sleeve or hub 37 the axis of which is perpendicular tothe horizontal axis of the shank 36 and one end of which extendsconsiderably in advance of one side of the shank. The sleeve 37 receivesthe upper end portion of the shank 5 and is located a trifle below thejuncture of the pintles 7 and 8, as shown in Fig. 1, with the endprojecting in advance of one side of the shank 36, extending downwardly.A washer or bushing 38 may be secured to the standard 5 and bear on thelower end of the sleeve, whereby the selector arm will be supportedagainst downward movement. That end of the shank 36 opposite to the endon which the sleeve 37 is formed terminates in an upwardly and outwardlyand substantially right angular nose 39, which extends to a point in aplane with the dogs 28 and 32 when the latter are on either the right orleft of the support.

Encircling the standard 5 and located between the juncture of thepintles 7 and 8 and upper end of the sleeve 37 is a helical compressionspring 40 one terminal of which is fixedly secured to the standard andthe opposite terminal to the inner end portion of the shank 36 of theselector arm. The spring 40 is so positioned that it normally holds theselector arm to the right and the nose in engagement with the lugs onthe leaf holders which are arranged to the right of the support.

In order that the selector arm may be oscillated manually, the followingconstruc tion is employed :By reference now to Fig. 4 it will be seenthat a bracket arm is provided, which includes a shank portion 41 oneend of which terminates in a sleeve the axes 9f which are at rightangles to the shank 41 and which receives the standard 5 and is locateddirectly below the lower end of the sleeve 37 of the selector arm. Theouter end of the shank 41 terminates in an upward extension 42 extendingto a point in a horizontal plane with the sleeve 37, and provided with agrooved sheave 43. Journaled in boxings carried by the opposite innerfaces of two of the legs 6 of the tripod is a shaft 44 and fixedlysecured to one end portion of this shaft is a treadle 45. Extendinglaterally from the standard 5 and located directly above the legs 6 is aguide 47 in the form of an eye bolt, and trained over the sheave 43 andthrough the guide 47 with its lower terminal fixedly secured to thetreadle 45 and its upper end portion coiled around the sleeve 37 is acord or cable 48 which when the treadle is depressed will operate toturn the selector arm from right to left.

Having now described the construction of the device its operation willbe given: Assuming that the leaves are so positioned that all will lieto the right of the device as shown in Fig. 1, it will be seen now thatwhen the treadle 45 is released as shown in Fig. 1 the selector armwill, by virtue of its spring tilt the dog 32 as shown in Fig. 5 andmove to a position between the said dog 32 and dog 28 whereupon it willbe prevented from moving farther by virtue of the dog 28, as beforedescribed. WVhen the parts are in these positions and it becomesnecessary to shift the outermost holder the treadle 45 is depressedwhereupon the selector arm will move outwardly in the arc of a circleand abut against the dog 32. Since it is impossible for the lower end ofthis dog to move outwardly on its pivot the result will be that theholder will move outwardly as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 2 and afterit has past the center of the pintle 8 to which it is connected willgravitate and fall to the position shown in Fig. 1. Upon release of thetreadle 45 the selector arm will again move past the outermost dog 32 ofthe next holder and into the position just described so that when thetreadle is depressed the second holder will be turned to the right, andso on until the entire number of holders are shifted from the right tothe left. WVhen one or more of the holders havebeen shifted to the rightand it becomes necessary to repeat a portion of the music on one of theshifted pages the treadle 45 is depressed to its extremity whereupon thenose 39 of the selector arm will move into engagement with the dog 28which is now presented outwardly on the holders arranged on the right ofthe support, and by virtue of the mounting of the said dog 28 will tiltthe same and move to a position best shown in Fig. 6. After the nose ofthe selector arm has cleared the arm 28 the latter by virtue of itsspring 31 will assume the position shown by dotted lines in Fig. 6.During this opera tion it will be remembered that the spring 40 will betensioned so that when the treadle is released the said spring willoperate to automatically turn the selector and the latter will againmove outwardly this bearing on the dog 28 and since outward movement ofthe latter is prevented by Virtue of the extension 30 it is evident thatthe holder will 5 be moved from the right to the left. It will beevident, owing to the rearward inclination of the pintles 7 and 8 thatthe holders will move in an arc oblique to the plane of the arc in whichthe selector arm moves so that when the selector arm moves the holdersoutwardly and the same approach their centers the dogs 28 and 32 willmove out of the path of the nose 39 as clearly shown by dotted lines inFig. 2.

From the foregoing, it is evident that I have provided a device which iscomparatively simple in structure and inexpensive in manufacture,embodying few parts and these so arranged that the danger of derangementwill be reduced to a minimum.

I claim 1. A music leaf turner comprising a vertical support, a leafholder hingedly mounted on the upper end portion of said support, a pairof spaced dogs pivotally mounted on said holder, said dogs being adaptedfor movement in opposite directions, and a selector arm having one endjournaled on the upper end portion of the support and below the leafholder, said selector arm being movable in a plane oblique to the planeof the movement of the leaf holder and adapted to engage said dogsindependently, whereby .said leaf holder may be moved in oppositedirections.

2. A music leaf turner comprising a vertical support, a leaf holderhingedly mounted on the upper end portion of said support, a pair ofspaced dogs pivotally mounted on said holder, said dogs being adaptedfor movement in opposite directions, a manually operated selector armhaving one end journaled on said support and adjacent to said 5 leafholder, said selector arm being movable in a plane oblique to the planeof movement of the leaf holder and adapted to engage with one of saiddogs whereby said leaf holder is operated in one direction, and

means for operating the selector arm in the 10 opposite direction whensaid selector arm engages with the other of said dogs.

In testimony whereof I afiiX my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

BENJAMIN F. SOUTHER. WVit-nesses J. A. BoNI-IAM, C. A. PARK.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

